The Demigod Trials 10
CHAPTER TEN Dakota looked terrible. Percy almost winced at the other guys condition. His shirt seemed to be on backwards and his shorts were ripped down the side. Ropelike veins ran along his arms, pulsing and green- but less pronounced then the day before. His bloodshot eyes fell upon Percy, staring at him as if Percy was just his next meal. Dakota crouched as if to spring for another attack. At some point a sword had made an appearance, gripped in his left hand and a red flask of red liquid in his right. Percy was feeling quesy, he didn't know if he could fight an opponent like Dakota. Not that he couldn't out maunever him- Dakota was obviously insane it didn't feel right to take the guy out like that. Percy tensed anyway. "DAKOTA!" '' Percy looked up, in the direction of the new voice. Relief flooded over him when he saw Luke standing at the top of the hill wielding Backbiter. "Dakota," Luke repeated dangerously. "Stop right now, or I'm going to give Percy permission to kill you." Percy shot a look at Luke, hoping he was bluffing. He could not kill Dakota, even if he seemed desperate to rip his guts out. Dakota wasn't fazed at all, he turned his head akwardly to stare viciously at Luke, his tongue darting between his lips to wet them. ''I wonder what happened to him. ''Percy thought as he waited to see what would happen next. He adjusted Riptide in his hands, gripping the hilt tighter than usual. "If you let him kill me," Dakota growled taking a swig of his drink. "You're letting the wrong one live." He stabbed a bony finger at Percy. "He's the shank you wanna kill." His voice was full of pure madness. "Don't be an idiot, Dakota," Luke rolled his eyes, his voice calm as he stalked down the hill, still holding Backbiter. "Percy is new. He doesn't know anything." He paused and looked at Percy. "Does he ''look ''like he know's a dang thing?! You don't have to worry- the Changing is getting to you. How many times do I have to tell you to stay in your room? Seriously, I'm going to lock you in there until you grow a beard." Dakota obviously was not amused with the humor. "He isn't one of us! I saw him! He's horrible! He'll want to take us home! Get us out of this Maze! Better we all jumped from the Cliff! If we tore one another apart!" Dakota jerked his gaze from Percy to Luke. "The gods themselves should never have been this cruel!" Luke froze. Percy took an involuntary step backward, horrified by what Dakota had said. What did he mean? Why did he think Percy was evil? Luke hadn't moved an inch, his sword now hanging loosely by his side. Percy took the oppurtunity to ask Dakota what he was talking about. "Dakota, I swear I would never hurt you." He frowned and looked back at where they'd just been fighting. "Well, maybe there was an exception. But you jumped me." He shrugged. "Really though, I'm not a bad guy. I may not remember much but I promise to you-" "Shut your ugly shucking face!" Dakota snarled. "Shut your stupid, traitorous face!" Luke blinked, came to his senses. His eyes narrowed on Dakota. "I'm going to count to three, then Percy is going to kill you." Percy bit his lip. Why did Luke keep saying his had to kill him? Why couldn't he do it? "He's bad, he's bad, he's bad...," Dakota was whispering now, almost chanting. He swayed back and forth, switching his sword from hand to hand, beady eyes glued on Percy. "One." "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..." Dakota smiled, definately crazy. Percy wanted to look away, wanted to retreat. But he couldn't move. Part of him wanted to see what would happen. "Two." Luke's voice was louder, filled with meaningful warning. "Dakota," Percy said. "Don't do this. I'm a friend. I don't know what your talking about but we can talk-" Dakota screamed, a strangled gurgle of madness, and leaped into the air, slashing out his blade and yelling. "Three!" Luke shouted. "Percy, now!" Percy barely had time to roll to the side before Dakota's blade hit the earth one inch away from him. "C'mon Percy Jackson," Dakota hissed, getting closer to his enemy. Percy rose unsteadily to his feet, shaking. Dakota tilted his head and paused, then threw his flask at Percy, the red liquid spilling over his head and drenching the other demigod. Dakota took that moment to rush, threw the other boy off balance and aimed for his neck. Percy blinked the liquid out of his eyes and blocked the enemy sword, kicked him in the leg and then brought his sword hilt down on top of Dakota's head. Dakota lurched backwards and slammed into the grass with a solid thud. Percy turned to find Luke his face emotionless. "Come on," Luke said. "Baggers'll take care of him tomorrow." "What?" Percy asked blankly. "They take care of dead people. Let's go." Percy looked down at Dakota's lifeless figure, wondering if he should tell Luke he really wasn't dead. Percy had only struck him with the hilt- he was just unconciouss. But before he could say anything, Luke was already gone, a trembling branch the only sign he'd ever stood there in the first place. TLater in the day, Percy lay staring at the sparling night sky, wondering if he'd ever be able to pass a day as normal here. Percy knew he'd never forget those terrible minutes in the graveyard. "You okay?" Grover asked again for the fourth time since they'd set out their sleeping bags. Percy turned to look at his friend. "To be honest?" He took a deep breath. "No." Grover snuck an apple from his pillow. "Here, Perce. Eat it...I was going to...but, uh, you look like you need something to distract you." Percy took the apple, turning it over thoughtfully in his hands. "Is it always like this?" He asked, almost sighing. Grover blinked, rubbed his eyes. The satyr seemed to understand what Percy was talking about. "Well, actually no. Only since you got here." "Why?" "No one knows to be honest." Grover yawned. "Must be something special about you." They didn't talk anymore, they didn't need to. Percy lay there, staring up at their odd sky, wondering what would happen the next day.''He called me Percy Jackson, He thought to himself. He finally closed his eyes, long after Grover had dozed off, and fell into the dark void of sleep. Grover had to pick up Percy's sleeping bag in the morning and dump him out of it. Then he had to haul him to the showers to clean up and after that it was to the dressing rooms. The entire time, Percy felt terrible, his muscles ached and his arm still hurt from Dakota biting him. Breakfast was mostly a blur, but he did get to meet the cook Leo. He had a special talent of lighting himself on fire, it explained how he cooked most of their meals so quickly. "I like to use the old fashioned," Leo grinned flicking his finger until it burned like a candle. "The oven was not made for this guy!" He struck a pose, strangely idiotic. Percy couldn't help grinning. Not everyone in the Glade was serious and dark. Still, Percy was tired. His brain felt like someone had gone in an stapled it to his skull in a dozen places. He was missing someone, and the worst part he didn't know who he was missing. He stood with Jason in front of the barn of the Blood House, getting ready for his very first training lesson with a Keeper. Despite the rough (and quick) morning, he was actually excited to finally be doing something. Get his hands busy, do something useful. "Probatio, are you even listening to me?" Percy snapped out of his daze and focues on Jason, who'd been talking for who knew how long; Percy hadn't caught anything of what he'd said. "Oh...uh...sorry?" Jason shrugged, slapped Percy on the back. "It's okay, man. I know what you went through last night. Luke told me all about it." Percy glanced out over the Blood House, watching the animals, heard a dog barking somehwhere in the distance. "Well, I guess I should do something. Sitting around isn't going to do us any good. What's the latest on the girl from yesterday?" If anything had penetrated the haze of fog all morning, it had been thinking of her. He wanted to know more about the girl and understand the connection he felt towards her. "Still in a coma," Jason sighed, kicking a loose rock across the dusty, cracked stone floor of the Glade. "Med-jacks are shoving whatever soup Leo can cook up, checking her vitals and pulse. She seems to be alright, just not waking up." Percy didn't answer that, he wasn't sure how. He switched topics. "So what's first? Pull eggs out of a chickens butt or slaughter baby piggies?" Jason looked over his shoulder. "We always make the new guys start with the Slicers. Sorry," Jason shrugged almost apollegetically. "Let's meet Octavian. He loves slaughtering animals- real and fake." "What do you mean by that?" "You'll see." Octavian had a severe acne problem. He was tall, with a flop of blonde (short) hair on his head. Hanging from his belt was a knife, which was blood stained, and a pair of stuffed rabbits. And, not to mention, this guy was sickly and by Hades, not fun to look at.'' Maybe everyone isn't evil, but this guy is. Percy thought. Octavian showed Percy around for the first hour, pointing out which pens held which animals, how to fix a fence, and occasionally trying to kill him. In the beginning of the first five minutes he almost ran over Percy with a wagon. Two hours in he'd succeeded in 'accidentally' tying Percy in barbed wire (Jason thankfully came around and found him) and after three hours he'd knocked a wooden post on top of the newest demigod. Percy decided that this Octavian kid didn't like him. ''Great. ''He thought to himself. ''As if I need more enemies. '' This black lab dog kept running back and forth around the area, covering Percy with licks from time to time. Octavian had told him the dog had always been there. They called him Bark. Mainly his work through the day was doing whatever Octavian told him too. "Percy," Octavian called him over just as he'd finished scraping animal poo- wait no ''klunk- from the pens. He'd also fixed a fance, cleaned and gotten trampled by an ugly fat pig. "What?" Percy trudged wearily up to Octavian who seemed to be doing nothing. He sat in a rocking chair fiddling with his knife, a panda pillow pet in his left hand. Octavian smiled, enjoying the fact that Percy was half dead. "Tired?" He asked sweetly, pouring a glass of lemonade. Percy eyed the drink, his mouth watering. He didn't say anything. Octavian handed him the glass, surprising Percy with not trying anything tricky. He gulped the glass down and the immediately did a spit take. There were ants in the drink. Just as Percy was about to throw the cup at Octavians smug face, Jason walked up. "What's going on here?" Octavian sneered at Percy then turned to face the Praetor. "Nothing your Imperial Hign''ass''," He said, bowing mockingly. "Just telling the Probatio he was done." Jason raised and eyebrow but didn't comment. "Alright. Walk yourself back Percy. I have to check on something." And with that he ran off, Percy followed for a few moments then decided to go left. He thought about Octavian and decided he was too creepy for comfort. Percy was just passing the West door when an Asian kid with strong arms and short black hair, looked a little younger than himself, ran out of the doors. He looked like he'd just run twenty miles, face red, skin covered- no drenched- in sweat. He stopped short and doubled over, his hands on his knee's gasping for breath. Percy recognized him from the crowd before. He stared, overcome with curiousity, he knew this guy was a Runner. Percy wanted to ask him questions, what it was like to be a Runner. Why waste his time with the other jobs? He stepped forward to ask but before he could form a sentence...the boy collapsed to the earth. <---- Previous Chapter [[The Demigod Trials 11|Next Chapter --->]] Category:TheBestDaysofUrLife Category:The Demigod Trials